cover crop meetings

I was privileged to attend and also speak at this conference. Please take some time to look in on the many awesome presentations that were presented in Omaha. Dave

Broadcast Recording Available from National Cover Crops Conference

To meet some of today’s biggest challenges in agriculture, including rising food demand, a shrinking land base and climate change, farmers should be encouraged to adopt a holistic approach to enriching their most valuable resource – the soil – according to a panel of experts who helped open last week’s National Conference on Cover Crops and Soil Health.

“Cover crops to me are just the next natural step in trying to have a broader system, and I think the single biggest issue we have as farmers in this country is we don’t farm with a system in mind,” said panelist Howard G. Buffett, a philanthropist and Illinois farmer.

To learn more, watch a recording of opening sessions from the National Conference on Cover Crops and Soil Health, held Feb. 17 – 19 in Omaha, Neb. Joining the 300 farmers, scientists, and industry and government representatives who met in Omaha, approximately 6,000 others participated by gathering at more than 200 local soil health forums nationwide, where this recording was broadcasted live.

The conference recording features a discussion of how cover crops can improve soil health and the major barriers to their increased adoption, and was led by Buffett and fellow panelists Jason Weller, chief of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Ray Gaesser, Iowa farmer and American Soybean Association president. Following them is a panel of farmers who are pioneers in the use of cover crops, no-till and other soil management practices.

Conference speakers addressed a wide range of ongoing challenges to cover crop adoption, including the need for more specialized seeding equipment, more advocacy by farmer leaders, more research on their economic benefits, and changes to insurance and conservation programs that better encourage their use.

It is amazing how much interest there is in cover cropping these days!

Sarah Carlson from Practical Farmers of Iowa and I were discussing this fact in Omaha, NE earlier this week. To think that there would be a conference like we attended in Omaha was almost a “dream” when we were attending some of the first Midwest Cover Crop Council Meetings less than 10 years ago. Many thanks to Eileen Kladivko, Dale Mutch, Dean Baas, Tom Kaspar, Anne Verhallen, Alan Sundermeier, and others who set the pace and path and vision for sharing and researching the benefits of cover cropping.

I had the privilege of speaking to over 1,000 farmers at the National No-Till Conference in Springfield, IL in January 2014. Being a long-time no-tiller; this was a highlight of my career.

So, where am I these days? (kind of like “Where’s Waldo?) Over the past seven weeks I have spoken in many states (NY, OH, WI, NE, MI, etc…) and at Ridgetown, Ontario. I have spoken to well over 2,000 producers these past 50 days. I keep telling my wife I’ll check in as often as possible and I try to keep the kids aware of where I am and where I am going (I use this as great geography lessons!). The interest in cover cropping is astounding. I am excited to see so many producers that are using cover crops are excited about what they are doing…I am 100% confident this is NOT a fad.

I have a few more cover crop meetings to add that you might find very interesting.

Starting on March 6 the American Society of Agronomy is conducting a number of Cover Crop webinars. The speakers on the presentations are among the “who’s-who” in cover cropping research and practice. Please register and watch these free webinars!

Also in Wisconsin I am speaking at three Legacy Seeds Cover Crop Seminars. Please contact the folks at Legacy Seeds at karen@legacyseeds.com to preregister. Registrations starts at 9:30 and the meetings start at 10 AM. Early order “discounts” will be available. Lunch will be served at each location.

Also, sometime in April – Robison Farms (my brother Don and I along with mom and dad) hope to host a field day at our Greenwood, IN farm where we have 5 acres of replicated cover crop research. More details will follow soon on this.

These are exciting times in Agriculture. Remember to be thankful for those who have come before us and for those who share their knowledge and vision with us. More importantly share your vision and knowledge with others. Most importantly, be thankful to the God of Creation who gives us the responsibility to care for His creation.

It’s been a while since I have posted on here as I have been quite busy speaking about cover crops at a number of venues. Over the Winter of 2014 I will be speaking at a number of conferences. If you are in the area of any of these meetings please stop by and introduce yourself to me; I’d love to hear your cover crop stories.

There are Cover Crop meetings and conferences going on across the country like never before. Here is a list of those I am aware of that are coming up in February and March 2013. Please look below in the comments section for several more meetings.

While my main responsibility lies in working with alfalfa and forages I also was pleased to find out that there were several folks in Wisconsin that were using cover crops! Well, you would figure that I’d get involved more with cover crops in the Badger state, and I have.

Wisconsin Cover Crop Meetings

In February 2012 I conducted two cover crops meetings in the Fox Lake, WI area with over 75 producers present. The purpose of these meetings were to teach farmers about how cover crops can work in their farming operations. I was very pleased with the outcome of those meetings as over 10,000 acres were planted on farms that were represented at those meetings.

In July I held three more cover crop meetings in Eau Claire, Waupaca, and Brillion, WI. All combined, there were over 150 farmers present and I’m confident that there were at least 30,000 acres of cover crops planted by those farmers.

While I don’t have figures of how many cover crops were planted in Wisconsin, I think there were as many as 250,000. Many of those acres were after wheat was harvested and a surprising number after corn and soybeans.

Cover Crops for Forage & Manure Management

Feed was one reason so many acres were planted. The severe drought has created a forage shortage.

But many farmers planted their cover crops because they want healthier soils and better production. Still others planted because they want to hold onto the nutrients from their manure. Whatever the reason, cover cropping is alive and well in Wisconsin – and growing.

You can click on the pictures below to see a larger image of each.

The Oats, Appin Turnip and Cowpea combination should make excellent haylage for the Wisconsin dairy market.The nodules on the Austrian Winter Peas were multiple and large. This field will be planted to corn next year and it sure appears that a good amount of nitrogen will be in the soil and available for that corn crop.This field of Austrian Winter Peas and Radish east of Green Bay, WI was planted after wheat in severe drought conditions. Thankfully some later rains came to get the mixture up and going.

I will be speaking at the CTC meeting in Ada, OH again in 2012. There are many outstanding speakers at both conferences.

There are two tremendous meetings coming up in the next two weeks featuring cover crop information. One is the Midwest Cover Crops Council annual meeting held at the Beck Agricultural Center near West Lafayette, IN. Producers should make a great effort to attend on Wednesday and Thursday if at all possible. The Thursday meeting is the Greater Wabash River RC&D Workshop on Soil Productivity and it promises to be a very good meeting for producers if you cannot make the MCCC meeting on Wednesday.

The other meeting that is coming up on March 6-7 is the Conservation Tillage and Technology Conference in Ada, OH. This conference has grown tremendously in the past few years as a full day is now dedicated to having meetings on cover crops. If you only want to learn about cover crops then attend Tuesday March 6. However, look at the full agenda and see that there are many more topics that you will probably find very helpful to your farming operation.

While field days like this one at Mike Werling's farm in Adams/Allen Counties, IN are exciting, indoor meetings are a great way to share what we saw over broad geographic areas this past fall.

Watch your mailbox for an invitation from your local SWCD, NRCS, or extension office for dates for cover crop meetings! Over the next 6 weeks I am speaking at a number of meetings on cover crops.

One of the highlights includes the CTC meetings in Ada, OH on February 24-25. The “cover crop emphasis day” is on Thursday, February 24, and the itinerary is filled with outstanding speakers. I am blessed to be there speaking on the topic: “Using Legumes for Cover Crops.”

Also AgriFlite, an aerial applicator from northern Indiana, will be presenting (they have done some awesome work on putting the science alongside the art of flying on cover crops). See the blog post about their work in 2010.

Listed below are locations of cover crop meetings that I am aware of. * means that I am speaking at the event. Please e-mail me at dave@plantcovercrops.com for further details.

Feb 16- Paulding, OH * 8 AM-2:30 PM

Feb 16 – Sullivan, OH * 5:30-9 PM

Feb 16- Jasper County, IN 10 AM-2 PM

Feb 17 – Loudonville, OH * 10 AM-2:30 PM

Feb 22 – Larwill, IN * 5:30-8 PM

Feb 24 – Ada, OH * 8 AM-7:30 PM

March 1 – Berne, IN * 4-9 PM

March 2-Webberville, MI* 9 AM-1 PM (mainly discussing forages)

March 3 – Napoleon, MI * 9 AM-1 PM (mainly discussing forages)

March 8 – Montpelier, OH * TBD

March 9 – Woodville, OH * 6:15-8 PM

March 10 – Bowling Green, OH * 9 AM-3 PM

March 11 – Logansport, IN * 10AM-2:30 PM

March 14 – Howe, IN * TBD

March 15 – Howe, IN * TBD

March 16 – South Bend, IN –

March 31 – Jackson County IN * – TBD

I’m sure there are several more across the country that are going on. If you know of others let me know and I’ll get them posted!